Well they did for me anyway. My old ignition leads where a set of Bosch 'high performance'. I was trying to diagnose a slight miss at idle that's been bothering me for a while. My ignition leads where a year old so it was time to change them (just to be sure). As I was removing them I checked their resistance on an ohm meter. The old ones measured 4.75 - 5.0 Kilo ohms. The shorter ones had slightly less resistance than the longer ones which was to be expected. I bought a set of 9mm Spiral core high performance leads and was really surprised to find that they measured 1.5 - 1.9 kilo ohms! The first one I measured I thought I must have a dud but they all measured consistently at around that level of resistance reducing with the length of the lead. I thought "fair enough as long as they all measure evenly there shouldn't be a problem". What I didn't expect was the quite impressive power increase with no other changes other than the ignition leads. I was literally startled when I drove it up the street on it;s maiden voyage with the new leads and smiled and said "allllll right!" to myself. It is definite and noticeable mostly on the bottem end which has gained a healthy boost. Anyway, it might be something to check. Get your ohmsmeter out and make sure that that spark has the least resistance to the plug as possible. Next I'm going to try opening the plug gap to .050" as Dave suggested. I guess that less resistance equals more spark gets to the plug - obviously.
I wonder if this is my problem.... My motor has a slight miss every few seconds. I haven't investigated much yet, but will.
What sort of ignition (plug) leads do you have on at the moment Adam? Just for the record, the leads improved the idle but there is a slight missfire that is still present. The extra power was an unexpected bonus though. Not sure if this helps HEI's only or if it will also help normal points distributors. It's worth a try though.
When you refer to igintion leads, do you mean plug wires? I am running Bosch Super whatevers...auto zone special order stuff.
Yes I mean plug wires. I think there's a culture gap going on here. I wonder how many people have skipped over this thread because they don't know aht the heck I'm going on about. Next thing you'll be telling me is that you're not sure what a "dizzy" if a "diff" is. Crikeys mate! What's a bloke godda do to be understood around here? What with all the weird spelling you guys use an' all.
Hello all, As far as ignition wires go i always found magnecor site to be a good read: http://www.magnecor.com/magnecor1/main.htm Check out the "truth" and "faq" sections in particular. They seem to make some nice points here and there.
Mate! This place is full of gorgeous women. I'm surprised that you guys don't visit more often! And the way your dollar is worth more than our dollar it'd be pretty good value too. No worries about that. Dave, good point, not sure. It's not as serious as it was when I had the old 'plug wires' on but seems to happen more when it's in gear than when it's resting at idle in park. Sometimes there will be a shudder that rocks the entire car. Funny thing is that when I move it to high stall it actually gets worse than when it's in low stall. Is that some sort of a clue? In idle, it seems to have a nice rumble that sounds like a drummer doing triplets at a constant rate. It actually idles much better than many engines I have had before and I wouldn't normally worry about it but have known this engine to idle completely smooth as low as 450rpm (currently it's set at 500). A glass of water on the air cleaner wouldn't ripple. Not so anymore. One thing I have done is remove the carb spacer form under the Q-Jet in case it's fuel distribution as I noticed that my front two plugs on each bank where slightly blacker than the rear two (on each side) which where perfect. I was going to re-install it last weekend but got sidetracked. How would I tell what cylinder was misfiring?
Too lean/vacuum leak/valve clearance and too lean/vacuum leak/valve clearance. Check booster lines, check valves, PCV system for correct weighting valve for the engine package, etc. Bill, my friend, Barry Sheene, died in Gold Coast this morning, just before the Daytona 200. He was a former two time world champion in Formula 1 motorcycles. Throat and stomach cancer, diagnosed nine months ago. I got up this morning, and got the strangest feeling, and told myself Barry had died just a few minutes earlier. Phone rang, confirmed it. Very strange.
Sorry for your loss of a friend. It must have been very interesting to have a friend that was as great at something as Barry Sheene was at racing. I'm too young to have "been there" when he was racing, but have seen footage on a movie called "Taking it to the Limit" I believe. Any moorcycle racing fan should recognize the name. You were definitely in the presence of greatness.
Sorry to hear about Barry. I heard it last night but didn't remember that he was your friend. Now that you mention it though I do remember that you mentioned it during my visit. Regarding the PCV valve. I was not aware that there where different weights. How can I determine if mine is corerct? To be honest I just popped into my local GM dealership and asked for a replacement 90 degree PCV. Now that you mention the booster, when I switch the engine off I can clearly hear vacuum escaping from it. It's been like that ever since I bought the car and because the brakes work fine and seem quite powerful I figured that the booster was getting enough vacuum for it to operate correctly. I never imagined that it would have this effect on performance. I'll get it rebuilt as soon as possible. It could be the valve also I suppose (and hope). I'll check it out and let you know if the problem persists.
Sorry if this is a stupid question but.......... Is Spiral Core a name brand, or is it the way the wires (leads) are manufactured? o No:
There are no stupid questions on V8Buick.com. The core of a spiral core spark plug lead consists of a core of wire which is made of a tightly wound very thin wire. You can have a small 1/2 inch section of this spiral core and unwind it for may metres (or yards if you prefer).
Booster Vac Leak Hey Bill, if that booster is making a hissing noise it may be the rubber cup right behind the master cylinder. I had one dried out and leaking, fixed it and changed the idle considerably. Its a pretty easy fix- Prior to investigation I was thinking I had to rebiold the whole booster, man what a relief.
Look at the hole on the engine side fo the PCV valve. The "plunger" inside it should have a letter and/or number on it. This number is the loading of the PCV valve for the vacuum level it operates properly on. Examples: Stock Chevy 283, 327, stock cam: 2 1966 427/425 Corvette, solid lifter big cam: 6 Easiest way to get a PCV valve that works is to get into the catalogue specs for each part number, then go check the loading numbering for each, then select the one closest to the vacuum level you need. I was Yvon duHamel's mechanic at Kawasaki, 1973 thru 1976. Built/tuned H2R and F9R race bikes, for Yvon. Up until 1996, I had my won 240GP team, raced all over the world. I know/knew all those people whom raced and built/tuned.
Great tip Ted, thanks very much, I'll check it out. It sure will be a relief if that's the problem. I'll let you know. Is it a special part or could I make one from rubber stock? That is, is it flat rubber or is it moulded into a special shape? Dave, great info once again. You should write a book about your (mis?) adventures. I'd certainly buy it. You're a regular "Smokey" you are. The number on my PCV is 2072 "Made in USA". Not sure where I'm going to be able decipher that number. I guess I'll start with the GMH service department. Or, is there a correct one that I can buy from over there? My vacuum is 22 at idle.
I never knew that! I wonder what number the PCV valve is that you get from FRAM at Wal-Mart? ou: Guys like you are my heroes. I admit I'm too much of a hack to make a GP bike sing, but sure like to dream about the idea. Pretending I'm Eddie Lawson when cruising the passes on my GPz is as close as I'll get. Now if it were only a race-series ELR.. I bet you've got some great stories to tell.
